Team Scotland for Glasgow 2014

I'm excited to say that I have been selected to represent Team Scotland this month at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. I will participate in the Cross Country Mountain Bike Race on Tuesday the 29th of July and the Road Race on the 3rd of August.

You can keep up to date with my final preparations and race news through the following platforms:

Twitter: @grantferguson1 (https://twitter.com/GrantFerguson1)
Facebook: Grant Ferguson Athlete (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grant-Ferguson-Athlete/101526109939266)

Thanks Grant.

South Africa World Cup 1

My first big target of the 2014 season was waiting for me at the start of April as I travelled to South Africa for the first World Cup of the year. It was the third time I had travelled to this course in Pietermaritzburg with the previous two times not going as well as planned. The first time I went was as a first year under 23 and I had an aim of finishing in the top 10 which is were I was until a puncture on the final lap ended that then on my second visit it was for the world champs and I snapped my chain on the start line. So I was hoping it would be third time lucky as I travelled this time and I was excited to race especially on the course as it is one of the best in the world with lots of technical features. We arrived a week before the event and managed to do some riding in the local area, it was hot as well which was a nice change from the UK. We started to get on the course around mid week as the race schedule has now changed and my under 23 race is on a Sunday morning which means there is a lot of time in the run in to have a look at the course. The course had changed a fair bit and involved lot of new technical rock features and some of the old original rock features. Race day was 11.00 on Sunday morning and I was ready to go, with a gridding of 5^th, which put me on the front row for the first time I was excited to get going. I was quite nervous before the start, as I was feeling quite good so I was happy to be lined up and ready to go. Soon enough we were off and it was flat out down the start straight and into the first single track. I had a good start and entered the trail inside the top 10 then from here I moved up through the first lap and put myself in the second group of three with michiel van der heijden and Julian schelb. Jordan sarrou was ahead with a bit of a gap after the first lap. We worked together a little as a group but it soon split up with sarrou still ahead, then van der heijden, then I was in third place with James Ried and Anton cooper together in 4^th and 5^th. I was working hard to keep up with the pace in front and to make sure I was riding well in all areas of the course. The race continued like this for the main part and I was making sure to keep hydrated as it was about 35degrees. On the final lap I was still a similar length behind and still trying to catch up and I was still the same length ahead of 4^th as I went down the final decent to the finish. I crossed the line 3^rd place which I was very pleased about! I have had 7 top 5 places at world cup level but it was the first time I had made the podium so it was nice to finally get on to the main stage and an exciting way to start my season. After this I headed home with a couple of delayed flights back to Manchester to start racing a bit of a block on the road.

Thanks for reading, Grant.

Winter Adventures

It has been a busy winter with lots of different things going on in preparation for the 2014 season, which for me starts at the end of this month. I started off training back in November, which quickly passed, and soon it was December and I headed on a training camp with Scottish Cycling in Girona. There were lots of people on the camp from the track, road and mountain bike which made it good fun, we did lots of cool rides around the local roads which were really quiet and the weather was nice which is always a bonus.

Following this I turned my attention to some Cyclo-Cross work over the Christmas period to prepare myself for the final national trophy round and the National Championships in early January. The final trophy round was being held at Shrewsbury and after a lot of rain I knew it was going to be a muddy race with lots of bike changes. The race started fast and with a Belgium visitor in the race he went out fast, I thought it would be good idea to go with him in and try to keep myself at the front of the bike race. I soon realized I didn’t quite have the pace to go with him and dropped off and was joined by Paul Oldham. We raced together for a main part of the race before I got distanced towards the end and I finished in 3^rd place just ahead of Nick Craig who was hunting me down.

The week after this I headed to the National Cyclo-Cross Championships in Derby to try and defend my title from last year. It was a cold weekend and the track was muddy from races the day before but fortunately it had frozen over night and it started of as a fast race before the ground softened up throughout. It was the first time I have lined up with a number 1 board and been in a defending position so it was new experience and I was excited to race. I started well and moved up the race before rolling around in the mud after messing up a corner half a lap in, which turned out to be slippier than I first thought. After this I moved back up to the front of the race where I was joined by Kenta Gallagher and from here it turned into a race between the two of us. It was a close race throughout with each of us riding faster in different sections of the course. It came down to the last lap and I made a move with about half a lap to go and held of to win the race by 10sec over Mr. Gallagher in second and Ben Sumner in third place, I was really pleased to win! J

Next up I spent some time in Manchester putting some hours in before heading to Calpe for out betch.nlsuperiorbrentjens team training camp. It was the first time I have been to Calpe and it was exciting to have the whole team together. We did a mixture of Mountain bike and road rides and found some cool trails, which were loose and dusty. It was a bit different to the mud and puddles of the trails at home! The camp involved getting new bikes and team photos for the up and coming season which is now just around the corner. 

Thanks to everyone for there continued support, 

Thanks for reading, Grant